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Tennessee Titans News & Rumors

Chiefs To Trade CB L’Jarius Sneed To Titans

March 26th, 2024 at 12:14pm CST by Ely Allen

MARCH 26: Sneed will end up with a bit more on his second contract, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport noting it will be a $76.4MM deal for the former Chiefs standout. The $19.1MM AAV will place Sneed sixth among cornerbacks. A $20MM signing bonus will comprise part of Sneed’s guarantee package; the Titans can spread that figure over the life of the contract.

MARCH 22: Despite recent reports that a previous trade agreement fell through after the Titans were unable to reach an extension agreement for Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the deal will come to pass.

Tennessee is finalizing a trade that will send Kansas City a 2025 third-round pick and will swap the teams’ seventh-round picks in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft in order to acquire the 27-year-old defender.

The Chiefs had applied the franchise tag to Sneed in order to avoid him hitting unrestricted free agency following the expiration of his rookie deal. Despite the move to keep him under contract, Kansas City didn’t display much of a desire to keep Sneed on the roster in 2024. The team is extremely familiar with the tag-and-trade maneuver having used it to send Dee Ford to San Francisco and acquiring Frank Clark from Seattle under similar circumstances.

Kansas City was unwilling to meet the salary desires that Sneed had for an extension, so it made it clear to the rest of the league that its star cornerback was available for the right price. The Vikings, Colts, Patriots, Lions, Falcons, Jaguars, and Dolphins were all reported as teams to show an initial interest, though several sought other options or simply opted to cease communication with the Chiefs about a deal.

Tennessee took advantage of having the third-most salary cap space in the league, signing Sneed to what Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report reports will be a four-year, $76MM extension. If those terms are correct, his new deal would match recently extended Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson‘s in length and overall value. The main difference that Schultz gives us is that while Johnson’s deal included $51.4MM of guarantees, Sneed’s will have $55MM of guaranteed money.

The Titans were reportedly the only team that got close enough, reaching a point at which a deal was essentially ready to go last week, but without being able to reach an agreement on an extended contract from Sneed, the deal seemingly fell through. Following their failed efforts to acquire Sneed, the Titans pivoted, signing free agent cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and using the money set aside for a Sneed extension to sign wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

Sneed comes to Tennessee as the obvious new starter alongside Roger McCreary and Awuzie, replacing Sean Murphy-Bunting, who signed a three-year, $25.5MM deal that sent him to Arizona. The Titans also lost their other outside cornerback when Kristian Fulton signed a one-year contract with the Chargers. Sneed and Awuzie should take over roles as the main outside corners, allowing McCreary to continue to excel in the slot.

As for the Chiefs, while they’ll certainly miss having a playmaker like Sneed in their secondary, they have to feel pretty good about their position moving forward. Once the trade goes through, the totality of Sneed’s $19.8MM franchise tag salary will come of their salary cap, granting much needed cap space to a team that ranked 28th in the NFL before the deal.

As for the draft capital return, in addition to the seventh-round swap, the team will be gauging the success of their trade on how poorly Tennessee performs in 2024. The 2025 third-rounder will obviously come before the late-third-round compensatory pick that Sneed was likely to return as an unrestricted free agent. If the Titans have a poor showing next season, though, they could return an early-third-round pick as a result of today’s deal.

Without Sneed, Kansas City still has to feel pretty good about its talent at cornerback. Three third-year players will return to lead the position room in 2024. In the 2022 NFL Draft, the Chiefs selected Washington cornerback Trent McDuffie in the first round, Fayetteville State cornerback Joshua Williams in the fourth round, and Washington State cornerback Jaylen Watson in the seventh. Today, it views all three as starting-caliber players in their third year.

Specializing in the slot, McDuffie ranked as Pro Football Focus’ fourth-best cornerback in the NFL in 2023. Williams wasn’t far behind as the 26th-best, and Watson graded out at 46th. Including those three and Sneed, the team touts an impressive record evaluating draft-eligible cornerbacks. If they feel the need to add bodies to the room, look to the draft as the likely source of their next great cornerback.

Titans’ Trade For CB L’Jarius Sneed Falls Through; League Interest Cooling

March 22nd, 2024 at 8:13pm CST by Ely Allen

Two weeks ago, we went into some detail on the list of teams interested in trading for Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. The Titans were one of those teams, and it appears the team was all but set to trade for Kansas City’s top cornerback before one detail sank the deal. According to Nate Taylor of The Athletic, the inability of Tennessee to reach an agreement on a multi-year extension for Sneed kept the trade from going through.

The Chiefs avoided allowing Sneed to test unrestricted free agency by applying the franchise tag on him earlier this month. While every now and then, a franchise tag application can be the end of the story, keeping a key player under contract for one additional, high-paying year, often times, the tag is meant to buy time as the player continues to seek a long-term contract. With Sneed, that meant two options: seeking a long-term contract with Kansas City or getting traded to another team that may be more open to giving him the deal he desires.

The Chiefs are very familiar with the tag-and-trade maneuver. They have utilized it themselves to send Dee Ford to the 49ers while also taking advantage of it to bring Frank Clark from Seattle. Right now, it appears that Kansas City is unwilling to meet Sneed where he’s wanting to be in terms of a contract extension. As a result, they have essentially informed every team in the NFL that Sneed is available for a trade.

With the Chiefs hearing offers on Sneed, a number of teams reached out to express interest. We noted the Vikings, Colts, Titans, Patriots, Lions, Falcons, Jaguars, and Dolphins as teams looking to acquire the 27-year-old. While all these teams showed initial interest, it was never clear how many had the intentions of trading for Sneed then extending him.

Sneed has made it clear that he is seeking a three- or four-year contract with an average annual value of at least $20MM, a salary that would make him the league’s third-highest-paid cornerback. While Tennessee was ready to part ways with whatever Kansas City wanted in exchange for Sneed, the Titans were apparently not ready to hand Sneed a new contract. Without a new contract, Sneed is set to play with a one-year salary of $19.8MM on the franchise tag, with every penny counting towards his team’s cap space. This provides incentive for the Chiefs or whatever team trades for him to use a new deal to lessen his salary cap impact.

The Titans apparently pivoted from the Sneed-trade to sign cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and use the extra money to sign wide receiver Calvin Ridley. The Lions traded instead for cornerback Carlton Davis. Additionally, Taylor informs that the Patriots, Vikings, and Falcons have ceased engagements with Kansas City concerning Sneed. So who else is left to vie for his services?

The Athletic’s Dianna Russini names Indianapolis as the most likely destination for Sneed at this time. The Chiefs will be wanting at least a second-round pick for Sneed, but if they can’t reach that value, they’re going to want two picks, with one of them being a third-rounder. She identifies the Colts‘ 46th, 82nd, and 117th overall picks as the ones that could entice Kansas City. On the Pat McAfee Show, ESPN’s Adam Schefter disputed Russini’s opinion, claiming that “the Colts and the Chiefs haven’t had any conversations” about a trade taking place. Stephen Holder of ESPN delved deeper claiming that, after contemplating the idea of a Sneed-trade, Indianapolis instead opted to re-sign its own players, like cornerback Kenny Moore.

As for the Chiefs, the relative inactivity around Sneed could allow them to lower Sneed’s asking price on a new deal. Sneed has expressed interest in remaining with the Chiefs multiple times. He doesn’t seem too eager to give a hometown discount, as he realizes that this is likely his best opportunity to maximize on his value, but he likes the idea of a Super Bowl three-peat and enjoyed his role as the team’s shadow corner.

Kansas City is in no rush to overpay, though. They are currently ranked 28th in cap space, according to OverTheCap.com, and they are confident in their ability to identify cornerback talent through the draft. Without Sneed, the Chiefs will return Trent McDuffie, Joshua Williams, and Jaylen Watson, three players they believe to be starting-caliber.

As the draft inches closer and closer, it’s starting to seem like one of two things will need to happen: either Kansas City is going to need to lower their asking price for Sneed in order to move him, or Sneed will need to lower his asking price for a new extension. It doesn’t sound like the Chiefs are interested in keeping Sneed on the roster in 2024, but someone will need to bend in order for him to move. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, for one, expects the team to move on from Sneed before the draft.

Contract Details: Young, Awuzie, Taylor, Rams, Cards, Chargers, 49ers, Lions, Texans

March 20th, 2024 at 10:12am CST by Sam Robinson

With free agency’s first wave in the rearview mirror, here is a look at some of the contracts authorized by teams in the days since the market opened:

  • Chidobe Awuzie, CB (Titans). Three years, $36MM. Contract includes $22.98MM guaranteed. Awuzie’s 2025 base salary ($11.49MM) is guaranteed for injury at signing, with $7.51MM of that total fully guaranteed. Awuzie being on Tennessee’s roster on April 1 of next year locks in the other $3.98MM. The veteran cornerback is a due a $1MM bonus on April 1, 2026, per KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson.
  • Darious Williams, CB (Rams). Three years, $22.5MM. Commanding a market, the recent Jaguars cap casualty’s second Rams contract can be worth up to $30MM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets.
  • Chase Young, DE (Saints). One year, $13MM. The deal includes $7.99MM in per-game roster bonuses, CBS Sports Jonathan Jones notes. Including a $2.7MM base salary and a $1.86MM signing bonus, Young’s New Orleans pact is still heavily tilted toward games active. That will make the defensive end’s recovery from neck surgery worth monitoring more closely.
  • Tyrod Taylor, QB (Jets): Two years, $12MM. Taylor will see $8.5MM fully guaranteed, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan tweets. An additional $6MM in incentives are present in the veteran QB’s deal. Three void years are included here, dropping Taylor’s 2024 cap hit to $2.8MM.
  • DeeJay Dallas, RB (Cardinals): Three years, $8.25MM. Dallas will see $2.4MM guaranteed, Wilson tweets. The final two base salaries on this contract — both worth $2.4MM — are nonguaranteed. Rushing yards-based incentives run up to $750K per year in this deal.
  • Javon Kinlaw, DT (Jets): One year, $7.25MM. The ex-49ers first-rounder will receive a $5.5MM signing bonus, with KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson indicating the deal also includes $1.75MM in incentives.
  • Gus Edwards, RB (Chargers). Two years, $6.5MM. The ex-Ravens back will see $3.38MM guaranteed, Wilson tweets. Edwards’ $3MM 2025 base salary is nonguaranteed, with Wilson adding he is due a $125K roster bonus on Day 5 of the 2025 league year.
  • Noah Brown, WR (Texans): One year, $4MM. Brown re-signed with the Texans for $3MM guaranteed, per Wilson. The wideout’s second Houston contract can max out at $5MM.
  • Jon Feliciano, G (49ers). One year, $2.75MM. Feliciano will receive a $925K signing bonus, and Wilson adds $1.25MM in incentives are present in this accord.
  • Emmanuel Moseley, CB (Lions). One year, $1.13MM. Moseley will stay in Detroit for the veteran minimum, via the Detroit News’ Justin Rogers. Coming off a second ACL tear in two years, Moseley will receive a $1MM signing bonus. He received $6MM in 2023.

Tre’Davious White To Visit Giants, Titans

March 19th, 2024 at 3:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Tre’Davious White‘s itinerary is starting to look like a first-round prospect’s. After his Rams and Raiders meetings, the former Bills cornerback has booked two more visits.

The Giants and Titans have scheduled meetings with the former All-Pro, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. Both visits will take place this week. The Bills designated White a post-June 1 cut recently, wrapping a seven-year tenure that saw injuries impede the talented cover man while on his big-ticket extension.

Finding a connection between White and the Giants is not difficult. Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen were in Buffalo during most of White’s tenure there, with Schoen on board when the Bills extended the Pro Bowl corner in 2021. The Giants are in the market for a starter opposite Deonte Banks. While the team signed Jalen Mills, the team is viewing the versatile DB as a safety. That makes sense, considering the loss of Xavier McKinney, but the Giants also saw three-year CB starter Adoree’ Jackson become a free agent. Jackson is not expected back.

The Titans did add a key option early in free agency, agreeing to terms with Chidobe Awuzie. But the team lost Sean Murphy-Bunting to the Cardinals as well; Kristian Fulton remains unsigned. The Titans have seen injuries play a key role in their cornerback equation — among other areas on the roster — with Fulton and former first-rounder Caleb Farley running into regular trouble on that front. The team still has 2022 second-rounder Roger McCreary on his rookie contract, but it is still looking for pieces here.

White suffered a torn ACL on Thanksgiving 2021; it took him a full year to return. White was ready to go for the 2023 season, but an Achilles tear in Week 4 became part of another injury-laden Buffalo defense. The Bills had White in place as their No. 1 corner for several years, seeing him land All-Pro honors in 2019 and 2020. They were largely forced to play without the 2017 first-rounder over the past three seasons, and with cap trouble surfacing, the perennial AFC East champs moved on as a secondary overhaul is taking place.

White, 29, has generated extensive interest and figures to land a second opportunity soon. The deal may need to be incentive-laden, with injuries coming to define White in recent years.

Titans Sign DT Sebastian Joseph-Day

March 19th, 2024 at 10:10am CST by Adam La Rose

Not long after a free agent visit with the Titans, Sebastian Joseph-Day has a deal in place. The veteran defensive tackle is signing with Tennessee on a one-year deal, per an announcement from his agency.

Joseph-Day met with the Titans on Monday, as noted by ESPN’s Field Yates. That, in turn, came shortly after the 28-year-old visited the Bills, per Yates. He has elected to head to Nashville after beginning his career on the West Coast. The Titans will be Joseph-Day’s fourth NFL team.

The former sixth-rounder spent three seasons with the Rams, serving as a full-time starter throughout that period. His play in Los Angeles landed him a three-year, $24MM Chargers pact, but he found himself on the waiver wire well before that contract had been played out in full. Joseph-Day was waived in December shortly after the firings of head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco.

The 49ers moved quickly in signing him to finish out the campaign, part of the team’s overall efforts to add along the defensive line in advance of what turned out to be a run to the Super Bowl. Joseph-Day took on a much smaller workload in San Francisco than he did with both L.A. franchises, so it comes as no surprise he has departed in free agency. The Rutgers product has posted 11 sacks in 71 career games while recording between 36 and 56 tackles each season to date.

Joseph-Day will likely take on a starting role alongside Jeffery Simmons on Tennessee’s D-line. The Titans lost Denico Autry to the division-rival Texans in free agency last week, and Jaleel Johnson and Kyle Peko are unsigned. Tennessee ranked 13th against the run in 2023, and Joseph-Day’s arrival should help the team maintain (or improve upon) that success next year. The Titans entered Tuesday with more than $46MM in cap space, and this deal will likely represent a low-cost addition, meaning the team will still have considerable spending power moving forward.

Titans To Host OL Andrus Peat

March 18th, 2024 at 2:44pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Titans have already made a number of moves along the offensive line, but more could be coming. Tennessee is set host veteran guard/tackle Andrus Peat, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

Peat, 30, has spent his entire career in New Orleans since arriving in 2015. He has served as a full-time starter for almost that entire span (102 of 111 games), but his playing time saw a decline this past campaign. The former first-rounder started 12 contests in 2023, but he logged a 75% snap share – the lowest figure since his rookie season.

The Saints have been met with injury troubles up front in recent years, and Peat’s availability has been a constant in that. The 16 games he suited up for last year represented the most in his career, one which has seen a number of injuries lead to missed time. The Stanford product has primarily been used at left guard, but last season he manned the blindside with Trevor Penning struggling to earn a first-team spot.

Peat has generally not fared well in terms of PFF evaluations, but his 2023 grade (60.2) marked his second-highest since 2017. He would provide a starting-caliber option to Tennessee at both tackle and guard, flexibility which could be valuable as the team re-shapes much of its offensive line. Aaron Brewer has departed in free agency, while Andre Dillard, Chris Hubbard and Calvin Throckmorton are unsigned.

The Titans added center Lloyd Cushenberry on a four-year, $50MM deal last week; the former Bronco will be counted on as an anchor in the middle of Tennessee’s O-line. The team has also invested in Saahdiq Charles, who has experience at both guard spots. Adding Peat would provide further flexibility up front as the Titans aim to rebound from a poor showing on offense last season. Tennessee currently sits third in the league with nearly $47MM in cap space, so finances will not be an issue if the Peat visit results in the desire for a deal.

S Marcus Maye Drawing Interest; Titans Visit On Tap

March 17th, 2024 at 1:43pm CST by Adam La Rose

The 2024 free agent class features a number of veteran safeties released by their respective teams in the lead-in to the new league year. Marcus Maye is among them, but he could soon have a new home.

Maye is on the radar of “several” suitors, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports. She adds the former Jets and Saints starter has a visit with the Titans scheduled for Monday. Tennessee’s only free agent move in the secondary to date is the addition of cornerback Chidobe Awuzie.

Kevin Byard occupied a starting safety role throughout his tenure in Nashville, but as part of the team’s efforts to move on from veteran contracts, he was dealt to the Eagles at the trade deadline. Byard became a free agent due to Philadelphia’s decision to release him, but he joined the Bears just before the start of the negotiating window. Maye did not reach the open market until the league year began, but he is now free to speak with interested teams.

The 31-year-old was informed at the end of February that he would be cut by New Orleans. The move was initially expected to occur with a post-June 1 designation given the financial benefits of doing so. However, teams are permitted to use that designation on only two players, and the Saints (in their latest round of salary cap gymnastics) did so with wideout Michael Thomas and quarterback Jameis Winston. Maye was therefore let go one day before free agency opened, but in any event he will provide his next team with a starting-caliber option.

The former second-rounder has started all 77 of his career games, but missed time through injury and suspension was a factor in his Saints tenure in particular. Maye was absent for 17 contests during his two-year run with New Orleans, and he posted only two interceptions and four pass deflections during that span. His next contract will no doubt check in at a lower figure than the three-year, $22.5MM contract he received from the Saints in 2022. If healthy, though, the Florida alum could prove to be an effective pickup for Tennessee or another team.

The Titans ranked 18th in the league against the pass last season, and their six interceptions were the fewest in the NFL. Adding playmaking on the backend via free agency or the draft would go a long way in helping the team rebound in the secondary under new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson. It will be worth watching to see how Maye’s Titans visit goes tomorrow and how many other suitors pursue him in the coming days.

Titans Release T Andre Dillard

March 15th, 2024 at 3:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Benched last season, Andre Dillard will not make it to Year 2 with the Titans. The team announced Friday it has parted ways with the former first-round pick. This move had been expected.

Tennessee gave the ex-Philadelphia draftee a three-year, $29MM contract to succeed Taylor Lewan at left tackle. While a recent report suggested there was a chance Dillard could stay, he was due $9MM in base salary next season.

Amid a cost-cutting spree last year, the Titans cut both Lewan and center Ben Jones. They also let four-year right guard starter Nate Davis sign with the Bears. The team brought in low-cost starters in Chris Hubbard and Daniel Brunskill but gave Dillard a midlevel accord despite his failure to commandeer an Eagles starting job. With Brian Callahan (and his acclaimed O-line coach father, Bill) coming in, the Titans will look elsewhere to fill their blindside post.

Dillard, 28, started 10 games for the Titans last season. Although two of those were the team’s final two contests, the then-Mike Vrabel-led staff benched the 2019 first-rounder around midseason. The team moved RT Nicholas Petit-Frere to the left side to take over for Dillard, keeping Hubbard on the right side following Petit-Frere’s reinstatement from a gambling suspension. When Petit-Frere and Hubbard went down with injuries, Dillon Radunz and sixth-round rookie Jaelyn Duncan were summoned as patchwork tackle solutions.

Unless a post-June 1 cut is coming, this move will cost the Titans nearly $8MM. New staffs are generally more willing to take on dead money, and with the Titans carrying more than $49MM in cap space even after the Calvin Ridley signing, it would not surprise if they took their Dillard medicine now.

Carthon mentioned Peter Skoronski as a tackle solution but later said the team believes it is best if the 2023 first-rounder sticks at guard. The team lost center Aaron Brewer but paid up for his replacement, in Lloyd Cushenberry. Tennessee also added ex-Washington guard Saahdiq Charles. As for its left tackle future, the draft represents a likely avenue here. A deep tackle class awaits, and the Titans hold the No. 7 overall pick.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/14/24

March 14th, 2024 at 9:44pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Titans To Re-Sign WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine

March 14th, 2024 at 7:09pm CST by Adam La Rose

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has spent his entire career with the Titans, and he has once again elected to remain in Nashville. The former undrafted free agent wideout has a new one-year deal in place with Tennessee, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.

As has been the case since 2022, this will be another one-year agreement, Garafolo notes. Westbrook-Ikhine earned $895K in 2022, and he saw that figure rise to $1.26MM last year. Another low-cost investment has no doubt been made this time around, but the 26-year-old has proven to be a consistent complementary piece of the Titans’ passing game over the past three years.

Westbrook-Ikhine has posted 38, 25 and 28 receptions from 2021-23 while seeing a regular workload on offense. His best season came in 2021, when he recorded 476 yards and five touchdowns. The Indiana product’s yards per catch average spiked to 15.9 the following year, and he will attempt to remain a deep threat on an offense which will be guided by new head coach Brian Callahan and feature a number of new players.

The Titans have made a number of investments on that side of the ball, including a $92MM deal for wideout Calvin Ridley. Running back Tony Pollard has been added as Derrick Henry‘s replacement, while the team’s O-line will feature center Lloyd Cushenberry on a lucrative pact of his own. Those additions will lead to increased expectations for Tennessee, a team which struggled on offense in 2023.

Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins headline the Titans’ WR room, and they will be the focal point of the team’s passing game. Westbrook-Ikhine will compete with third-year tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo for targets as a secondary pass-catching option, though. The latter posted an intriguing 54-528-1 statline last season, and he could be in line for a larger role in 2024. Even if that turns out to be the case, Westbrook-Ikhine will provide quarterback Will Levis with a familiar target on the perimeter.

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